I don't even know. I was waving the damn thing at her for like 10 minutes. The best part is that they took my expired ID that I didn't even have with me because it was you know, expired. So Ihad to come back the next day with my expired ID which was good for nothing, yet my active passport which would let me into the country wasn't good enough. I was so confused.

AND you had to leave and go back the next day? That's terrible.

I think there should be an online application system where you can scan your documents in, have them approved, receive a receipt/ticket, scan upon arriving at the DMV, get a ticket based on your request, and join the appropriate line when called. And if you have proof of an eye exam within the last 90 days, you don't have to do it at the DMV. It would make things move so much faster, and probably half the number of people would be there because there wouldn't be people showing up a second and third time because they had the incorrect documents.

If checks can now be scanned on our phones and deposited without a visit to the bank, I think the DMV can handle that!

Michigan is pretty much like Louisiana as far as taking a ticket and waiting. Near closing time, they start pulling together queues for different things. If you're ONLY renewing your driver's license, or ONLY license plate renewal, etc. You get your original ID with the corner cut off and void stamped on it and they staple a paper to it. This last birthday, I flew to Baltimore the day after I was at the DMV. The TSA in Detroit were cool with this makeshift ID but the TSA in Baltimore was eyeballing me like I was doing something sketchy. She said "Are you going home with this? or on your way out to somewhere?" I said I was going home and she said "Good, I don't know if everybody would let you through with this". Oy.

The one saving grace in Michigan is that if you wait all that time and then have to get additional documents, they will give you a pink tag that allows you to go to the front of the line when you return. They are also starting a thing at some offices where you can get in line from your phone on an app and show up when it's almost your turn.

We can do our license tabs by a machine or by mail, if we plan ahead and/or if the machine is working. It all stinks though.

Washington DC was not much better. My daughter and I had to wait in line two full times because they needed something else from her. Very annoying. But they asked what you were there for and you got a different ticket depending on what you were there for. They were different colors and started with different letters. It made it difficult to know when it was going to be your turn.

Michigan is pretty much like Louisiana as far as taking a ticket and waiting. Near closing time, they start pulling together queues for different things. If you're ONLY renewing your driver's license, or ONLY license plate renewal, etc. You get your original ID with the corner cut off and void stamped on it and they staple a paper to it. This last birthday, I flew to Baltimore the day after I was at the DMV. The TSA in Detroit were cool with this makeshift ID but the TSA in Baltimore was eyeballing me like I was doing something sketchy. She said "Are you going home with this? or on your way out to somewhere?" I said I was going home and she said "Good, I don't know if everybody would let you through with this". Oy.

I had a similar issue with getting served a drink in Maryland with a cut-off corner Michigan driver's license. In Maryland, they produce your new ID on the spot at the DMV. I explained the Michigan process of license renewal to the server, who gave me the same "sketchy, suspicious" demeanor, then asked to see the manager, who approved my drink.

It wasn't that I wanted the drink that badly; it really just the principle of the whole thing and that my weird ID was really still the official ID when you're waiting for your new one to come in the mail a few weeks later.

It's like when you hold up your hand to show where you are from in Michigan -- it seems so obvious. Why don't non-Michiganders get that?

BTW, does everyone in the Detroit area still explain where they live by stating the nearest mile-marker intersection, as in "12 mile and Telegraph?"

My husband and I unpacked our wine this afternoon. Much of the wine was from my late parents' collection - Dad was a wine snob, and we found bottles with vintage years before I was born. (They are probably vinegar.)

As we unpacked the wine, we built an inventory spreadsheet. (We're engineers. We're nerds.)

So my dear husband decided to label our wine racks after the letters of the Greek alphabet. We have five wine racks and two wine/beer fridges. He labeled the wine racks Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon. And he decided to name the fridges with the two Greek letters that - according to him - come after Epsilon: Phi and - "um, honey, what comes after Phi?"

He never joined a GLO, so he never had to memorize the Greek alphabet as I did. I suspect he guessed (incorrectly) that, because I'm a member of Alpha Epsilon Phi, Phi *must* be the next letter in the Greek alphabet after Epsilon. (Good job he didn't forget about Beta, Gamma, and Delta. LOL)

So I had to tell him that (a) Phi isn't anywhere near Epsilon in the Greek alphabet, (b) Chi is the next letter after Phi, (c) no, Chi is not pronounced "Chai" as in the Hebrew word for life, and (d) maybe we should just go with the NATO phonetic alphabet instead. (Which is what we went with. We both know this, as it's very useful for specifying hex numbers like MAC addresses and for spelling out our last name.)

Who wants to share the bottle of Yellow Tail Shiraz at Charlie 17/1 with me? LOL

__________________AEΦ ... Multa Corda, Una Causa ... Celebrating Over 100 Years of SisterhoodHave no place I can be since I found Serenity, but you can't take the sky from me...
Only those who risk going too far, find out how far they can go.

It's like when you hold up your hand to show where you are from in Michigan -- it seems so obvious. Why don't non-Michiganders get that?

BTW, does everyone in the Detroit area still explain where they live by stating the nearest mile-marker intersection, as in "12 mile and Telegraph?"

Of course we do. How else would you tell someone where you live? It's kind of like in Jersey, they want to know which exit of the turnpike... lol.

Quote:

Originally Posted by aephi alum

So I had to tell him that (a) Phi isn't anywhere near Epsilon in the Greek alphabet, (b) Chi is the next letter after Phi, (c) no, Chi is not pronounced "Chai" as in the Hebrew word for life, and (d) maybe we should just go with the NATO phonetic alphabet instead. (Which is what we went with. We both know this, as it's very useful for specifying hex numbers like MAC addresses and for spelling out our last name.)

I'm loving the idea of a fridge named Eta. I can't believe you didn't go with Zeta & Eta! Of course, if it's a wine fridge... I Eta bottle of wine doesn't quite work...

Off topic, but this is really starting to bother me. Since when does self-promotion mean that you have to spit on everyone else? Iím not hurting anyone. Iím doing my own thing. My work doesnít overlap with others. So why canít they stop at ďI am awesome! Look what I did!Ē Without going to and ďAnd this is lame and your stuff is weak?Ē

We are officially adopting our Goddaughter! I'm so excited! She moved in with us, in 2016, after being kicked out of her parents home. We hadn't had much contact with them in years, but she knew that we would always be there for her. She is the oldest of 7 children and has been through hell and back. Her parents had been involved in a cult, she was raped (they blamed her!) and basically made to be a servant. They "homeschooled" and stopped teaching at the 6th grade, because girls weren't allowed to go to college and the only purpose of women is for breeding. Well since we've had her, she's gone through therapy, and we've worked on catching up on her schooling (and we've applied for a high school diploma through an umbrella school). She's also married a wonderful man, who loves her deeply and holds her through her PTSD attacks. We recently talked to her therapist who called DCF on her parents-- which has caused her parents to cut her off completely. They won't allow her contact with her siblings, and basically have told her that she is no longer their daughter. SO... we are going through the adult adoption process. A lot of people question "why, she's married?" But married people need a good, loving family too. And she's already a daughter to us. So I'm thrilled, but not looking forward to the freak out her birth parents will have when they receive the court summons. There is nothing they can do to stop it, because she's now 21. None the less, it will make them appear less than wonderful parents hurting the "image" they have created for themselves online and in certain groups. But, to quote the great Rhett Butler, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn."

__________________

ďAll his life he tried to be a good person. Many times, however, he failed.
For after all, he was only human. He wasn't a dog.Ē
― Charles M. Schultz

Warning: The above post may be dripping in sarcasm and full of smartassedness.